Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

HSR&D Citation Abstract

Search | Search by Center | Search by Source | Keywords in Title

Association between hepatitis C infection and other infectious diseases: a case for targeted screening?

El-Serag HB, Anand B, Richardson P, Rabeneck L. Association between hepatitis C infection and other infectious diseases: a case for targeted screening? The American journal of gastroenterology. 2003 Jan 1; 98(1):167-74.

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.
   Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions



Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) shares risk factors and routes of transmission with several other infectious agents. However, the prevalence of comorbid infectious disorders among HCV-infected patients remains unknown. To analyze the association between HCV and several categories of infectious disorders, we carried out a case-control study using information from 172 hospitals contained in the computerized databases of the Department of Veterans Affairs. METHODS: We identified all HCV-infected patients who were hospitalized during 1992-1999. For each case, four control subjects without HCV were randomly chosen from hospitalized patients and were matched with cases on the year of admission. The frequencies of several predefined infectious disease diagnoses were compared between cases and control subjects, and the strength of these associations were assessed in multivariable logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: We identified 34,204 HCV-infected patients (cases) and 136,816 control subjects without HCV. Patients in the case group were younger (48.4 yr vs 59.8 yr), were more frequently nonwhite (38.5% vs 26.5%), and were more likely to have served in Vietnam (68.1% vs 33.0%); all p < 0.0001. Compared with control subjects, patients with HCV had a significantly higher prevalence of other blood-borne virus infections, including HIV (14.1% vs 3.0%) and hepatitis B (22.4% vs 0.7%); immunodeficiency-related infections, including cytomegalovirus (0.6% vs 0.2%), toxoplasmosis (0.3% vs 0.1%), cryptococcosis (0.4% vs 0.1%), and tuberculosis (3.3% vs 1.3%); sexually transmitted diseases, including gonococcus (0.5% vs 0.1%), chlamydia (1.6% vs 0.7%), syphilis (2.0% vs 0.6%), and genital herpes (1.0% vs 0.3%); and bacterial infection, including peritonitis, sepsis, endocarditis, cellulitis, and carbuncles (all p < 0.0001). After excluding potentially immunocompromised patients, including those with HIV, organ transplant, and cirrhosis, HCV remained significantly associated with CMV, cryptococcus, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted diseases. Similar results were obtained when the analyses were restricted to Vietnam-era veterans. CONCLUSIONS: Several infectious diseases are more common among HCV-infected patients compared with those without HCV infection. These findings support an approach of targeted screening for HCV among patients with these infectious diseases.





Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.